Gill Whitehead
Visiting Policy Fellow
Gill Whitehead
Visiting Policy Fellow
Gill has spent the last 3 years mobilising tech regulation in the UK, working on behalf of the UK’s largest regulators. She has led the establishment of several foundational partnerships in the UK and across the world, including as current Chair of the Global Online Safety Regulators Network (GOSRN) on behalf of Ofcom. GOSRN is the only network of online safety regulators in the world, working to build regulatory coherence across jurisdictions working to keep their users safe online.
Gill was until recently Ofcom’s Group Director for Online Safety where she led the implementation of one of the UK’s most significant pieces of new tech legislation, the Online Safety Act. Prior to this, Gill was the inaugural Chief Executive of the UK’s Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum (DRCF) where she established the DRCF as a delivery-focussed approach to implementing joined up digital regulation. To help prepare her for these roles, Gill undertook a Master’s degree at the University of Oxford’s Internet Institute studying the impact of the internet on society and conducting research on public and private sector data sharing.
Prior to her recent work on tech regulation, Gill spent four years as Google UK’s Senior Director of Client Solutions & Analytics, leading teams in data analysis, measurement, user experience, consumer segmentation, having also led their Market Insights function across EMEA. Before the world of tech, Gill worked in media at Channel Four and BBC Worldwide in a variety of executive leadership and data/technology-driven roles. She began her career at the Bank of England and Deloitte Consulting and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants.
Outside of her Executive career, Gill is a Non-Executive Director and Audit Committee Chair of Informa plc, the British Olympic Association, and Chair of the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025.
Online safety, AI safety, AI assurance, Corporate Governance